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by VoidofEternalDarkness



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-07 02:14:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13424565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoidofEternalDarkness/pseuds/VoidofEternalDarkness
Summary: Harry Potter is about to enter his fourth year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...he is expecting a somewhat quiet year, but a strange tournament which Harry is entered into and a mysterious letter he receives at the summer holidays before term are set to change everything in Harry's life.HIGHLY AU.NO BASHING.





	1. Chapter 1

-1-

_As the world comes to crash around you…_

_You slowly learn who your real friends are…_

_Above all else, you find a place to call home…_

 

**_A Soft breeze flitted through the village of Little Hangleton that night, it was the perfect setting for the end of the summer. A loud hissing sound encompassed the night, leading the scene to be drawn out into a tiny kitchenette area. It was the blandest looking kitchenette that one might ever see. White countertops, white cupboards beneath these, all that led to the rusty stove stop currently housing a boiling kettle._ **

**_A man with greying hair looked out into the distance, his dark optics meeting a large manor estate on the hill which overlooked the countryside. A light kept appearing and vanishing every few seconds, the man released a small groan, finding his voice a moment later, “Bloody kids,” the man grunted._ **

**_He tossed the tea-towel he’d been holding against the counter, then headed out of his home into the night. His path being lit by the lantern he’d grabbed from the hook just before the doorframe of his small home._ **

**_The scene rapidly shifts to a short, rotund man with long, messy blond hair complete with a spot of balding in the centre of his skull. The man approached the large armchair at the edge of the room and bowed his head, putting his hands together out of nervousness, this also revealed that the man was missing his ring finger on his right hand._ **

**_“Perhaps if we were to do it without the boy milord?” Wormtail said, almost quivering out of the fear he held for the unseen figure seated in the large armchair._ **

**_“NO!” another voice exclaimed powerfully, causing the first man to retreat timidly, whimpering all the while, “The boy is everything! It cannot be done without him and it will be done as I said!”_ **

**_A third man spun into the scene, dropping to his knee before the large seat, “You have my word that will be done that way, milord.”_ **

**_“Good, at least I know that one of you can do their jobs properly.”_ **

**_In the next few moments, loud hissing could be heard throughout the entire room, then the second voice, a high-pitched cold one, spoke again: “Nagini tells me that the old Muggle Caretaker is standing right outside the door. Step aside, Wormtail so I can give our guest a proper greeting…”_ **

**_“Avada Kedavra!”_ **

**_A rush of sickly green light rushed throughout the entire area, engulfing it in the magic of the spell which had just come from the seat._ **

A pair of bright emerald eyes snapped open, beads of chilling sweat trickling down the individual’s forehead, it almost gleamed under the moonlight wafting through the gap between the room’s closed curtains. Harry Potter had been brutally awoken from another nightmare. His vision was fuzzy but…the image of the dream was firmly implanted in his mind. A muggle man, Frank, had gone into the seemingly abandoned Riddle estate, only to meet his bitter end at the hands of what Harry could only assume was Voldemort, though Harry’s mortal enemy had been not visible in the dream, Harry could not think of anyone else it might be. Especially since one of the other two men in the room with the unseen figure during the dream was Peter Pettigrew, whom Harry knew as one of Voldemort’s most loyal servants.

Groaning some, Harry fumbled around his bedside table, a lame attempt at hunting down his glasses, which luckily, he found without too much difficulty. Harry forced the specs onto his face then heaved himself into a seated position. The dream had not been fun in any sense of the word and Harry silently thanked Merlin that neither his Uncle Vernon or Aunt Vernon had been awoken by the nightmare, he’d never hear the end of it if they did.

Harry rolled over, turning towards the clock sitting on his bedside table, the numbers were displaying that it was quarter past three. Harry had gotten used to the nightmares waking him at random times by now, it’d been happening roughly four days after getting back from term and the first time he’d not been particularly quiet, causing Vernon to lock Harry in his room and the door was only unlocked yesterday. Harry hated being caged in, but at the same time he didn’t mind because it’d meant that the Dursleys’ would leave him alone, even if only while the duration of the time that his door was locked, and he was barred from escape.

Why did the Dursley family treat Harry so badly? Well, Harry Potter was no ordinary boy. He was, in fact, a wizard who was due to start his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in a few weeks. Yet, this Summer hadn’t been as bad as the last few, at least in Harry’s mind. He’d been allowed to receive regular responses from his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, if Hedwig travelled at night so that the Dursleys didn’t detect that he’d been doing so.

Speaking of which, Harry turned his head towards the window just in time to witness a mass of white approaching Privet Drive in the distance. Knowing immediately what it was, Harry unlatched the window…just in time to find various other masses of colours following the first. Arching an eyebrow inquisitively, Harry rose the window up to give access to his room. The closer the group got, Harry finally divulged that the group of colours were in fact owls, the primary use for the postal service in the wizarding world.

Hedwig was the first to land, she happily hooted at her master before hopping off to the side waiting for Harry to free her of her burden. Next was a strange owl that Harry had never seen before, it was tiny and seemed to be full of energy. The final Owl was a rather large one shaded a deep hue of black with bright amber eyes which Harry did not recognize.

Deciding to relieve the small energetic one first, Harry quickly pulled the letter free from the birds leg, it took a drink from Hedwig’s water bowl, then shot back out the window as fast as it had come in. Next Harry untied a letter from the large black owl, it’s amber eyes peered in his direction for a moment, before it too took a drink from the water bowl and flew off into the distance. Finally, Harry reached over and untied the string binding Hedwig’s package to her leg, he rewarded the owl by petting her head softly. The Snowy affectionately nipped at Harry’s fingers, then hopped over to her cage to take some water.

Harry pulled the letter off the package and smiled softly, he recognized the handwriting immediately. Harry opened the envelope and extracted the letter within.

_Harry._

_I managed to find this, I felt that you should have something to pass the free time this year and to prepare yourself for later in life, given that things seem to be happening to you on a regular basis over the years from what you’ve told me. Look after yourself Harry and keep your friends close._

_Sirius._

Harry was in utter shock, he’d not been expecting to hear from his godfather so soon after he and his friends had rescued him from the Dementor’s kiss the previous year. Harry took the package and hastily unwrapped it, immediately his jaw dropped. The book was entitled: Coraetha: A Legend of Light Magic. This would come in handy. Harry put the book to one side and focused on opening the letter that had been delivered to him by the little owl of seemingly boundless energy.

_Harry!_

_DAD GOT THE TICKETS! IRELAND VS BULGARIA!_

_Anyway, I hope those relatives of yours aren’t giving you too much trouble, oh before I forget, sorry about the owl, it’s the one that Padfoot left with us last year, it wouldn’t leave me alone and I decided that I needed one of my own. Dad says to be prepared and we’ll pick you up at five o’clock tomorrow. Don’t worry too much about them not letting you come, Mum wrote to them asking you to stay and Dad said even if they say no we’ll come and get you at five o’clock tomorrow night anyway. Everyone wishes you the best and say they’ll see you soon._

_See you tomorrow,_

_Ron._

Harry’s eyes widened in excitement, leaving the Dursleys’ earlier than planned? That was something that he could look forward to for sure. Harry placed Ron’s letter down beside Sirius’ one. Now was the time he was going to have to investigate the letter which had been sent to him via the mysterious black owl that he’d never seen before in his life. Was it a dangerous one? Had it been sent from Draco Malfoy to further antagonize him? Sighing some, Harry decided to just bite the proverbial bullet, he reached over, taking the envelope into his trembling digits and peeled the seal back, opening the envelope and extracting the letter inside.

\------------------------------------

End Chapter One.

I apologize it’s short, this just seemed like a good enough starting point.


	2. Chapter 2

-Chapter 2-

He still couldn't trust himself to unfold the letter, Harry hadn't even recognised the handwriting which had penned his name across the front of the envelope. Was this sense of foreboding warranted? Or was he just over-reacting? Harry couldn't know unless he actually read the letter, so he finally unfurled the two sides of the parchment and began to read:

_Harry,_

_I know that we have not spoken much outside of Quidditch before, so no doubt you'll be surprised to be receiving this letter at all. That aside, I'd like a chance to get to know you beyond all this boy-who-lived nonsense that everyone throws around. I also know of a couple of others who would like this chance as well, I have a feeling that you could use some strong friendships in the coming years. I hope this letter finds you well and hasn't come off as awkward or anything. Looking forward to hearing from you soon._

_Katie Bell._

Of all the people Harry had been expecting to be the author of this letter, his mind hadn't even registered that it might've been Katie. His primary focus had been some unknown magical weirdo telling him that his life was in danger again. Who were these people that wanted to get to know him better as well as Katie? All of this was very confusing to him, hopefully he'd have time to figure it out in between hanging out with his friends at the Burrow and attending the Quidditch World Cup in a few days, maybe Hermione would be able to offer him some perspective on things…he wasn't going to write to her about it though…it wasn't the kind of thing that one should put into a letter at the very least. Sure, he and Katie had been teammates for three years now and it shouldn't alarm him that someone on the team wants to be a friend, but something seemed…weird? About it. It was seldom that anyone wanted to know Harry beyond the boy-who-lived nonsense unless they had an ulterior motive in mind, which often happened at least once a year.

Harry was going to have to deal with these thoughts at a later time, however, he still needed to try and convince his Aunt and Uncle to allow for him to have the Weasleys come and collect him at five o'clock on this day and leave Privet Drive behind for the rest of the summer, he was really looking forward to going, but if the Dursleys wouldn't allow him to, things would be rather unpleasant.

It was in that moment, Harry decided that he would rather just get it over and done with.

Bite the bullet before it bit him, so to speak.

The young wizard sauntered out of the smallest bedroom in the Dursley home, taking several deep breaths along the way as he tried to prepare himself for what was to come. His gaze shifted around the hallway while he traipsed through it. Several photographs lined the wall of Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and their son, Dudley. The thing that would be out-of-the-ordinary for any other family was that Harry didn't seem to be present in any of these photographs.

Continuing through the house, Harry stepped across the bland carpeted area of the upstairs level of the Dursley home. The sounds of his Aunt and Uncle's voices did nothing to calm Harry, even though it sounded like they were calm, he really didn't fancy his chances in dealing with something like this right now, he just wished that it could be made easier somehow. Harry descended the stairwell, feeling the beating of his heart rapidly increasing, he hoped that he was worrying for nothing. Eventually, Harry reached the dining room where his Uncle Vernon was sipping at a cup of hot coffee and Harry decided that he was going to go for broke.

"Hey, Uncle Vernon?"

"What is it, boy?"

"I was wondering if it would be alright if my friends came over tonight for a few minutes to collect me. You wouldn't be seeing me for the rest of the summer if I go with them."

Harry swore he could've seen the cogs turning in Uncle Vernon's brain at that point…but he wisely decided against saying anything lest he decided to further agitate him and ruin his chances of going to stay at Ron's.

"Alright, but how will these people be getting here? I don't need no abnormality drawing attention to this house boy."

"I'm not really sure, Uncle. They didn't tell me anything."

"Let's just hope they have some sort of respect to them then," Vernon continued, "I assume that's all you wanted."

Harry nodded, taking that as his dismissal he departed from the room again. Perhaps it was the thought of his ex-convict godfather that made the Dursleys afraid, he of course hadn't mentioned that Sirius was innocent, but that was a story for another time. A lot of weird things had happened today…Katie Bell sending him a letter, the Dursleys letting him go whilst not wanting to lose their slave. It was such a strange set of events that Harry didn't really know what to make of them really. He wanted to believe that good things could happen to him in the summer not just whilst he was at Hogwarts, but even he had to admit this was a bit much.

x-x-x-x

"Sorry about that, Mr. Weasley," Harry said as the Weasley patriarch stepped out of the fireplace, grinning.

"Not a problem Harry, at least we got it unblocked after all that, all ready to go?"

"Yeah."

"Good, now I must have a word with your Aunt and Uncle to let them know you'll be back for the Summer."

"They won't care," Harry said, shrugging.

"Are you sure, Harry?"

Harry nodded, dragging his trunk towards the fireplace, "Let's just go."

Mr. Weasley assisted Harry to get the trunk into the fireplace with him, then Harry took a small handful of the glittering powder in a small sack that the older wizard had brought with him. Harry tossed the powder at the bottom of the fireplace and exclaimed, "The Burrow!"

Emerald flames shot up, immediately grabbing Harry and forcing him down a sink-hole, or at least that's the best way he could describe the feeling of entering the Floo system.

Harry tried to grip his trunk as tightly as possible, the faster he spun…the looser he was forced to hold the trunk, despite his best efforts. Harry quickly re-doubled his hold on the handle…right before he flew out of the grate and smashed head-first into the sofa on the opposite side of the room.

"Dammit!" he exclaimed.

Laughing filled his ear-drums, but Harry ignored it and clambered to his feet.

"What a  _spectacular_ landing, Harry!" Fred exclaimed.

"You could've smashed through the couch!" George said excitedly.

Harry turned a glare towards the twins, but was soon smiling again, happy to be with his friends rather than at Privet Drive, this was going to be a good twist on how he'd been spending the last few weeks since finishing his third year.

"Hey guys."

"I'm surprised, no biting comeback?"

Harry just unleashed a feral smirk, "It's still early times my friends, I've got an entire year to get pay back."

Fred and George blanched, quickly moving aside as another red-haired boy slightly shorter walked out into the Burrow's living room, "Harry!"

"Hey, Ron. How are you?"

"Not bad, mate."

Ron sauntered over to Harry and they shared a hand-shake, then together the two boys began to lift the trunk as Mr. Weasley walked calmly out of the grate into the living room.

"I'm glad he didn't end up somewhere else this time."

The three Weasley boys snorted.

"Yeah, he did hit a couch though."

"Harry! It's good to see you dear."

"You too, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said happily, right before he was put into one of her infamous bone-cracking hugs. The result being that Harry and Ron dropped the trunk, both the dark-haired and red-haired boys exclaiming in agony.

"MUM!" Ron cried

"MRS. WEASLEY!" Harry shouted.

Mrs. Weasley quickly stepped back, "Sorry you two, go and get Harry settled in Ron."

They nodded, then hastily picked up the trunk once more before departing for Ron's bedroom.  
"She's going to be the death of us, I swear."

"You said it, brother."

Ron paused, but not enough that the duo would get another injury.

"Muggle expression," Harry explained, pushing the trunk lightly into Ron's side so that they could continue walking. The emerald eyed boy looked around in wonder as they ascended the stair-well to Ron's room, living in a house which was constantly prim and proper like The Dursley's home, it was a pleasant to be in a house that actually looked as though it'd been lived in.

"So, who's playing the finals anyway?"

"Ireland versus Bulgaria."

Harry and Ron stepped inside the bedroom right below the attic, and the two boys finished their journey by dumping Harry's trunk at then end of his kip bed, "Who's your pick?"

"Bulgaria. Krum's the best seeker in the world, flies like an eagle he does."

Harry chuckled, "Are you seriously basing an entire team off the Seeker?"

"Just wait until you see, it'll make more sense then."

"I guess so."

_**End Chapter.** _

_**I apologize for the short length, just getting into the flow of things, my chapters tend to start short and then slowly get longer over the story. But either way Read and Review. Flames will be ignored.** _

_**Nox!** _


End file.
